William Wordsworth

(1770 - 1850)
Short Biography


Birth
William Wordsworth was born at Cockermouth in Cumberland, son of John
Wordsworth, who worked as an agent and rent collector for Sir James Lowther.
Childhood and education
His mother died in 1778 (8), and in the same year he was sent as a boarder
to Hawkshead Grammar School. His father died in 1783 (13), at which time Sir
James owed him some 4000, but he refused to honour the debt. Responsibility for
William and his brothers passed to his mothers brother, Christopher Cookson, an
unhappy arrangement for the children, who found their guardian unsympathetic.
Hawkshead School, on the other hand, under the headship of William Taylor, was a
progressive and liberally oriented establishment, where reading in mathematics and
the sciences was encouraged. He attended St Johns College, Cambridge, from 1787
(17) to 1791 (21), visiting France, at that time in the midst of revolutionary turmoil,
and Switzerland in 1790 (20) with his friendRobert Jones.
Second visit to France and affair with Annette Vallon
He visited France again after graduation, and during this second visit was befriended
byMichel Beaupuy, through whom he came to share the ideals of the French
Revolution. Whilst in Orlans he had an affair with Annette Vallon, who bore him a
child.
He returns to England and radical ideas
Financial problems and the political situation forced him to return to England, where
he began to give wholehearted support to the radical philosophy of Thomas
Paine and William Godwin, openly expressing their ideas in his own poetry.
Wordsworth, Coleridge and Lyrical Ballads
At the invitation of John and Azariah Pinney he moved with his sister Dorothy to
Racedown Lodge on the Devon / Somerset border, and here met the poet Samuel
Taylor Coleridge. He then moved closer to Coleridge at Alfoxden House, and they
collaborated on and published Lyrical Ballads (1798, 28), which began with
Coleridges Rime of the Ancient Mariner and ended with Wordsworths Tintern
Abbey. Wordsworth later wrote a preface for the Ballads, which set out his theory of
poetry, and progressively marginalised and finally eliminated Coleridges work.
Germany and the Lake District
Later that year the Wordsworths made a trip to Germany with Coleridge, and, on
their return, moved to Dove Cottage, Grasmere, in the Lake District. From about

1798 Wordsworth worked on a large philosophical and autobiographical poem, The
Prelude, which was not published until 1850 (d).
Marriage
He married Mary Hutchinson in 1802 (32), and acquired two patrons in Sir George
Beaumont and Sir William Lowther, the latter settling his cousins debt to
Wordsworth.
His brother drowns at sea
His brother John was drowned at sea in 1805 (35).
His mnage quatre
His sister Dorothy continued to live with Wordsworth, along with his new wife and
her sister, Sara Hutchinson. They were often visited by Coleridge, who had moved to
the Lake District with his wife, and who had become emotionally involved with Sara
Hutchinson.
Poems in Two Volumes
Wordsworth published Poems in Two Volumes in 1807 (37) in an edition of 1000,
230 of which were still unsold in 1814. The volume received a critical drubbing from
the Edinburgh Review.
He argues with Coleridge
He severed his connection with Coleridge in 1810 (40), partly because of that poets
continued addiction to opium.
Wordsworth the family man and distributor of stamps
He now had five children, two of whom died in 1812 (42). In 1813 (43) he moved to
Rydal Mount, Ambleside, and was appointed the official distributor of stamps for
Westmoreland with a salary of 400 a year.
The Excursion and other poetry
In 1814 (44) he published The Excursion, 9000 lines of poetry in nine volumes,
which aroused little interest, followed by The White Doe of Rylstone (1815,
45), Peter Bell(1819, 49) and Benjamin the Waggoner (1819, 49). He continued to
be criticised for his low subjects and simplicity. Thereafter he became more
interested in reworking, ordering and anthologising his work in various collected
editions.
Poet Laureate
He became Poet Laureate in 1843 (73).
Death
He died in 1850 (80) and was buried in Grasmere churchyard.